The Planet /

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the firing of his National Security Advisor John Bolton. The move is widely seen as boosting the president's push to negotiate with US foes in Afghanistan, North Korea and other trouble spots.

Russia's ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, lost about one third of its seats in the Moscow city assembly at the local elections held last Sunday, according to final data cited by Russian news agencies. Nevertheless, the party retained its majority in the assembly, and its candidates for regional governors won in St Petersburg and in 15 other parts of the country.

In a tweet yesterday afternoon US President Donald Trump congratulated Russia and Ukraine on a prisoner swap that happened earlier the same day. “Russia and Ukraine just swapped large numbers of prisoners. Very good news, perhaps a first giant step to peace. Congratulations to both countries!”, he wrote.

Pope Francis starts a trip to the African continent on Wednesday, including Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius, three countries heavily threatened by climate change. Protecting the environment and the dangers of climate change have been key issues for Pope Francis, who published an encyclical or "laudato si" on the topic back in 2015, and said in June that the Church was "fully committed to do its part" to help stop climate change, dpa reported.

The executive committee of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party on Monday unanimously agreed to send former premier and party member Ahmet Davutoglu to a disciplinary board for dismissal, news wires reported.

Political novice and presidential protege Oleksiy Honcharuk was appointed as Ukraine’s prime minister on Thursday, claiming that economic reforms aimed at accelerating growth would be the focus of his premiership.

Hundreds of protests have broken out in Indian-administered Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the region of its autonomy and imposed a military clampdown more than three weeks ago, a senior government official has told the AFP news agency.

Iran will not talk to the United States until all sanctions imposed on Tehran are lifted, President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump said he would meet his Iranian counterpart to try to end a nuclear standoff.